rajasthani khatti meethi dal

Happy Wednesday everyone .Hope you all are doing great. I am doing absolutely fine. Just returned from a fabulous short vacation to San Diego . It was kind of an unplanned holiday but was certainly a  great change from the routine. This was the first time ever we visited San Diego and I must say its a beautiful place . Apparently its also know as Resort city. Well tons of things to do there , especially for kids. My son had a gala time and we thoroughly enjoyed too.

We don’t have family in San Diego but have friends there who were generous enough to spend their time with us . I am thankful to them because of whom we could make most of this wonderful place in 4 days.

I am happy to share some highlights  of our trip with you .

The day we reached we were lucky enough to see the air show and expo held at the marine headquarters. It was just spectacular . We even got a chance to see the choppers and fighter jets from inside. The feeling was overwhelming.

The next day we headed to LEGOLAND – the most awaited place to visit as my son is a lego fan and Oh boy , he had a blast there.

The famous Taj Mahal made of legos – unbelievable right 

Everything you see here is made of Lego blocks . Isn’t this marvelous . Its so amazing to see that humans can do about anything. This creativity and pain staking efforts just blows my mind.

The New York skyline with Statue of liberty – everything legos

The Congress House

The miniature people at the Congress House are made of legos too

And here comes the epic , the masterpiece – Mount Rushmore re created with legos here – how cool

You’ve got to visit this place .. there is so much more amusing things to see and experience 🙂

The third day we went to the Zoo . Let me tell you this ain’t any ordinary zoo. It’s a home to whooping 4000 species mostly rescued . You name it and they have it.

One of the best ones in United States and the best one that I have ever visited .

The best part of the zoo was watching the polar bears so close

AAhhhh and the giraffes

And the last day we again headed to LEGOLAND as 1 day wasn’t enough for my son . He is all the more in love with LEGOLAND .

And needless to say we brought back tons of souveniers – mainly lego blocks .. lol

By the way if you happen to visit San Diego do not forget to stop by ‘extraordinary desserts ‘ – its by far the most exquisite and fancy  dessert place I have ever been too and yes its very pocket friendly too.

I forgot to carry the camera .. silly me All the holiday pictures are clicked by my phone .

Now back to the post 🙂

So after eating out day and night  for 4 days ,when you return home what is the 1st thing you crave for? Well …… Its always garam garam dal rice for us . Nothing fancy yet soul satiating right. I knew I was going to make dal rice  , but as we were out on holiday I did not stock up on groceries . I just had few lemons and one onion on hand . But you know what I did not even use them . I made Jain dal without onion or garlic . So today I am sharing this very simple yet flavorful dal recipe which comes from the state of Rajasthan – its rajasthani khatti meethi dal which doesn’t require any veggies , not even tomatoes . I have learnt this one from my mom and its a staple one at my place. I make it once in 2 weeks at least . And when I made it today , it occurred to me that I have to share it with you . So no fancy pictures , clicked in a jiffy on my cell phone .

As I mentioned it is khatti meethi

Khatti means tangy – and here tanginess is achieved by use of Kokum. If you don’t have kokum – refer to notes below the recipe for possible substitutes.

Meethi means sweet – and sweetness is infused with use of sugar or gud/ jaggery . Today I have used raw sugar.

I am a big herb fan – I have used dried curry leaves in this dal too. I always stock up on dried herbs , so that I have them available whenever I want. If you have fresh curry leaves , do use them .

And lastly – how can we forget the very important part of our cuisine – fabulous ghee and spices tadka. Yes ghee /clarified butter is something we rajasthani’s cannot part with . We love everything with tadka . So please do not use oil.

Dal is made in every Indian household and the interesting thing is that not only every state has their own dal specialities but every household  has their own way of making it. Hope you like my version of dal.

best eaten with

Steamed rice

side of roti / paratha

or simply sip it off like a lentil soup

and by the way did you try my rajasthani khoba roti – its pairs best with it . You can find the step by step recipe link for the same here.

Its no onion no garlic dal but I served with a side of chopped onions as hubby dear can’t live without them . We didn’t even find the need to add lemons . And how can we forget a side of papad or Khichiya with dal rice . Sometimes I even serve it with a side of bhujiya sev and homemade chutney or pickle . Pure bliss!

rajasthani khatti meethi dal

Print

Course curry, dal

Cuisine Indian, rajasthani, regional

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Khushboo Kothari

Ingredients

• 1/ 2 cup toor dal
• 2 cups water divided
• 2 tablespoon ghee
• 1 fresh red chilly/ green chilly chopped optional
• 4-5 fresh curry leaves or 1 tsp crushed dried curry leaves
• 2 dry kokum pieces
• 1 teaspoon cumin/ jeera
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds /rai
• 2 teaspoon brown sugar / white sugar / grated jaggery
• 1 teaspoon red chilly powder adjust to your spice level
• 1/2 tsp turmeric / haldi
• 1 teaspoon dhaniya powder optional
• Salt to taste.

Instructions

1. Wash toor dal 3-4 times with water until the water appears clear . Now add 1 cup of water to the dal and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.
2. Pressure cook dal on medium for 4 whistles.
3. Let the cooker cool down on its own . Do Not force open the pressure cooker . It will take 10 -15 minutes to cool down
4. Meanwhile while dal is cooking in the pressure cooker , lets start making the tadka for the dal.
5. Gather all your spices and ¼ cup of water beforehand to avoid burning the tadka. The reason being once you start with the procedure you hav to act quickly.
6. Heat ghee in a pot you intent to cook the dal in .
7. Once the ghee is hot enough add mustard seeds , cumin seeds . Once they start to splutter add curry leaves , fresh chillies , red chilly powder, turmeric and dhaniya powder and immediately add a ¼ cup water to it.
8. Your tadka is ready .
9. Now keep aside 2 tablespoon tadka in a bowl for re adding it before serving .
10. Now add kokum , sugar and some salt to the pot and remaining ¾ cups water , cover it and let it simmer for 10 minutes on medium low heat.
11. By now the cooker should have completely cooled down . Carefully open it and take out the dal . Roughly mash the dal with a spoon or a whipper and add it carefully to the tadka pot .
12. Cook the dal for 10 more minutes. Add more water if desired as dal intends to thicken up after cooling.
13. Taste test . Adjust seasonings if needed.
14. Drizzle the spare tadka on the top again just before serving .
15. You can add chopped fresh coriander if desired .

Recipe Notes

This is medium spicy dal . Adjust spices to your comfort level.
If you don't have kokum , just squeeze in so lemon juice at the end.